Attraction that I noticed for the 1st time

[CableKC]

The last time I went with Disney Family to DL; we were walking through Cinderella's Castle, I looked over to the left and I noticed ( yes, for the 1st time....despite being to DL dozens of times ) the entrance to the Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough. I was stunned ( and dumbfounded ) that I NEVER noticed the entrance before. I told my wife about it and we decided to walk through the attraction. It wasn't anything special ( although some of the animation was kind of cool ), but it was a pleasant surprise......we saw something new at the Park that we never noticed before.

I'm guessing that many of you have ( like me ) gone to DL and DCA dozens ( if not...what seems to be...hundreds of times ), but has any one else experienced this before? Specifically, noticing something that you never noticed before for the 1st time at either parks?

I admit that I don't notice many things....so it's probably not surprising that this happened. I just found it funny and wanted to share.

 

[spacemermaid]

Yes, this has happened to me also. Last year, I "discovered" the big baby elephant statue made out of glass in the icecream shop on Main Street. It doesn't move or anything, but I was surprised and happy to see it there as elephants are one of my favorite animals.

 

[mechurchlady]

It is not glass but like acrylic. One like it was sold in Nieman Marcus catalogue long ago sold as an aqaurium and was part of the Christmas catalogue. I cannot forget it as it was so unique.

For me it will take a while to remember my latest aha type of moment.

 

[specialks]

For the OP -- the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-thru is new (or should I say "new again") and was just recently opened. I 'think' it used to be open in the 80s but they have made lots of changes. So, don't feel so bad worrying that you had missed it all these years. Chances are, it wasn't there.

 

[spacemermaid]

It is not glass but like acrylic. One like it was sold in Nieman Marcus catalogue long ago sold as an aqaurium and was part of the Christmas catalogue. I cannot forget it as it was so unique.

For me it will take a while to remember my latest aha type of moment.

That makes more sense; I was wondering how they were able to mold something so big out of glass! Now I'll picture fish swimming around in it whenever I see it. That must have been a really interesting picture in the catalog!

 

[DLR29]

For the OP -- the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-thru is new (or should I say "new again") and was just recently opened. I 'think' it used to be open in the 80s but they have made lots of changes. So, don't feel so bad worrying that you had missed it all these years. Chances are, it wasn't there.

Yeah, it was an attraction until 2001. Then they closed the castle after 9/11. But they just recently reopened the attraction this past November/December.

 

[pixiewings71]

Well, first of all, you walked thru Sleeping Beauty's Castle not Cinderella's, Cinderella's is in WDW. And yes, the walk thru just reopened last fall so it's new again and probably not something you missed previously. I love that walk thru, it's so neat!!

 

[karylrocks]

I am glad to hear they reopened the Sleeping Beauty walk-through. I always went through it on every trip until it was closed.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

One like it was sold in Nieman Marcus catalogue long ago sold as an aqaurium and was part of the Christmas catalogue. I cannot forget it as it was so unique.

QUOTE]

Was the shape like this?

 

[mechurchlady]

As you can see it is hollow and acrylic sort of. I love the elephant you posted and it looks similar. I used to get so many catalogues and that just sticks out in my mind along with this $20,000+ sleigh bed they had.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

I have hopeful suspicions that the elephant is made of glass. As we know, the elephant originated from Disneyland Paris. France is known for the fine art of glass-molding called pate de verre, in which a paste of glass particles is layered in a mold and fired. The finished product has a clouded, translucent effect that is unlike typical blown glass and very much like this elephant.

I read on another Disney website that the elephant went through many kiln/molding attempts and that leads me to hope that the elephant is not a cheap imitation of pate de verre but the real deal.

 

[pixiewings71]

Laurie, you said that elephant (which I looked for and saw because you mentioned it previously) was used as an aquarium right? I'll have to look next time to see how they would feed the fish, allow for air exchange and clean it out. Because we have 2 fish tanks and they are just standard shape and hard to keep clean, I can't imagine having to clean that elephant! LOL